Throughout
history, many people have made lasting contributions to the
world of hostas. In these pages, we hope to pay tribute to
some of them. Our concentration will be primarily on those
who have introduced or registered new cultivars, found new
species, promoted the genus or added to our knowledge about
this, the Number One selling herbaceous perennial plant in
the U.S.

We are always looking to expand these listings
and to keep them up to date. So, if you have new information
or know
of someone who you think should be included, please
send us their name and a brief description of their
contributions to the World of Hostas. Thanks.

Mark
Zilis has both a B.S. and M.S. in horticulture from the
University of Illinois. He started working with hostas in 1978 when he developed the
first
tissue culture
(TC) lab at
Walters Gardens,
Inc. in Zeeland, Michigan. His job was to
develop new ways to TC hostas for introduction to the gardening
public. The variegated cultivar H. 'Francee' was among the first
of the hostas multiplied successfully in TC at Walters.

In 1981, Mark co-founded the T&Z Nursery in Winfield, Illinois.
Then in 1992, he established his own nursery and TC lab,
Q & Z Nursery
in Rochelle, Illinois.

Mark has
introduced many, many new cultivars from his tissue culture lab
including:

In addition to his nursery work, Mark is a leading
author and authority on the species, Hosta. He has
produced three of the more important hosta books, The Hosta Handbook
(2000), The Hostapedia
(2009) and
Mark Zilis' Field Guide to Hostas (2014). During his over 30 years of research, he has visited
hundreds of hosta gardens around the world.

Mark has visited
Japan
five times (as of 2012) where he has explored the native areas
of many hosta species. He has also become acquainted with many
of the leading Japanese experts on the genus.

Mr
PGC Note:
In case you were wondering what a guy does after 30 years of
studying hostas and photographing them around the world...here
is Mark taking more pictures in a garden at the 2011 The American
Hosta Society Convention in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New
Hampshire.

BTW- Mark is one of those guys who has a picture in
the attic that is aging while he stays young looking.

Mark's first
book which was published in 2000 is a vital
resource for anyone seriously interested in these plants. It is
a small format book that is easy to carry with you into the
garden.

Note: At the January 19, 2013
Hosta Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Mark announced that the
second edition of this book should be available by the summer of
2013. According to Mark, the new version will contain 60-70% new
or updated material.

In
2009, Mark Zilis released the most complete
work on hostas ever written. It includes descriptions of about 7,000
name cultivars of hostas which includes about 4,000 of those that
have been officially registered with
The American Hosta Society.
This is a huge book that you will want to keep in your library
and not have to carry around too mucH.

This guide, which was published in 2014, covers the specifics
of around 272 cultivars and/or species of hostas through the
eyes of Mark Zilis. It also includes sections on growing hostas,
nomenclature and the history of hostas in the wilds of Asia.

Dr Zonneveld is a retired professor and
researcher in genetics at the
University of Leiden in The
Netherlands
for over 30 years. He has documented the DNA status of thousands
of plants including over 500 hostas. He is also known for
development of the genome for tulips. He has contributed many
articles to The Hosta Journal and other publications.

Bill was a hybridizer of small hostas
who lived in Alliance,
Ohio. He was also associated with a hosta propagation technique
called "Zumbarizing" which was a variation of the "Rossing
Method". Both techniques are meant to rapidly increase the
production of new buds on the crown of hostas thus resulting in
faster division production.